Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Volume 20.1
2005
European Journal of Parapsychology c 2005 European Journal of Parapsychology
Volume 20.1, pages 3-21 ISSN: 0168-7263
Abstract
This essay introduces the central results – for the first time in the
English language – of a representative survey which was carried out
at the Institut für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohgiene in
Freiburg in the year 2000. Over 1500 persons of the Federal Repub-
lic of Germany were questioned in a telephone interview about their
attitude towards paranormal phenomena and about personal expe-
riences in this field. The results are surprising: Germans are quite
open-minded about paranormal phenomena, and more than half of
the people even give an account of personal exceptional experiences.
Interestingly, it is primarily young people who believe in the exis-
tence of psi phenomena and who are increasingly having personal
experiences in this field. Presented are qualitative results, as well as
descriptive statistics. In a second telephone interview more than 200
persons were questioned once again, this time in detail, about their
personal experiences. It was found that dealing with the paranormal
is not seen as problematic at all.
Introduction
Exceptional experiences are finding widespread public interest.
This can be seen simply by taking a short glance into bookshops,
the yellow pages or television programs; the disillusionment (“Entza-
uberung”) of the world in the third millennium (as postulated by the
Correspondence details: Ina Schmied-Knittel, Institut für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psy-
chohygiene e.V., Wilhelmstraße 3a, D-79098 Freiburg i.Br., Germany. Email: schmied@igpp.de
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Everyday Miracles: Results of a Representative Survey in Germany
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Schmied-Knittel & Schetsche
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Everyday Miracles: Results of a Representative Survey in Germany
sample was drawn out of telephone directories, then the last digits of the
chosen telephone numbers were modified via an automated randomis-
ing process. Theoretically, even those terminations that are not included
in telephone lists (secret numbers or the like) may thereby be reached.
However, invalid number combinations are also created in this way, so
selection continued until we had reached our prespecified sample size
of 1500 persons. For valid numbers which were answered, 51.5% of the
persons subsequently participated in the survey.2
Before we present the most important results of our survey in the
following sections, a short note on the composition of our sample. As
already mentioned, altogether 1510 interviews were carried out. The
average age of the interviewees at the time of the survey was 48.5 years,
with 61.5% women and 38.5% men. Despite the randomized selection
procedure, this meant that women were over represented by 7% in com-
parison to the female population of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Selected Results
Conceivability of Paranormal Phenomena
The first section of the questionnaire concerned the attitude of the
population towards paranormal phenomena. For that purpose, the in-
terviewees were asked whether they thought that the existence of cer-
tain predetermined paranormal phenomena was possible.3 The inter-
viewees were asked whether they could imagine that:
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Schmied-Knittel & Schetsche
Figure 1. Percentage of “yes” and “not-sure” responses for conceivability of paranormal phe-
nomena (N = 1510)
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Everyday Miracles: Results of a Representative Survey in Germany
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Schmied-Knittel & Schetsche
Conceivability 18–30 yrs 31–45 yrs 46–65 yrs 66 and older η (p)
Item (N= 256) (N= 451) (N= 501) (N=287)a
Crisis-ESP 75.8 77.3 71.0 67.9 .095 (.007)
Animal-Psi 59.8 57.8 57.9 54.9 - (.357)
Precognition 59.8 58.7 53.2 47.7 .092 (.015)
Telepathy 48.8 51.7 48.8 44.9 - (.317)
UFO 43.0 28.9 17.4 14.6 .222 (< .001)
Psychokinesis 16.8 16.8 17.8 11.1 .075 (.017)
a
Not all interviewees specified their age so that the sum across all the age groups is less than the
total N of 1510.
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Everyday Miracles: Results of a Representative Survey in Germany
“ESP-Dream” They had ever seen something in a dream that later ac-
tually happened, something of which they could have had no prior
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Everyday Miracles: Results of a Representative Survey in Germany
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Everyday Miracles: Results of a Representative Survey in Germany
Table 4: Percentage ’yes’ responders for type of paranormal experiences by age (N = 1496)
Experiences 18–30 yrs 31–45 yrs 46–65 yrs 66 and older η (p)
(N= 256) (N= 453) (N= 500) (N=287)a
Déjà Vu 76.2 64.0 36.2 26.1 .366 (<.001)
ESP-dream 57.0 42.6 30.4 21.6 .244 (< .001)
Strange
coincidences 42.2 42.0 33.1 30.1 .120 (< .001)
Crisis-ESP 14.5 18.3 20.4 21.3 - (.111)
Apparition 13.7 15.0 16.2 18.8 .091 (.036)
Animal-Psi 16.1 15.3 15.9 14.3 - (.071)
Haunting 16.8 10.8 11.6 11.5 - (.177)
a
14 people did not indicate their age, so that the sum across all the age groups is slightly less
than the total N of 1510.
cant.
Differences can also be found by comparing men and women (Ta-
ble 5). It appears that women experience “apparitions” (χ2 = 28.541,
p < .001) and “crisis-ESP” (χ2 = 28.541, p < .001) significantly more fre-
quently. The difference with men amounts to up to 11 percentage points.
This can also be found in the items “amazing coincidences”, “haunt-
ing” and “ESP dreams” as a statistically non-significant trend. Only in
the Déjà vus and animal experiences is the percentage of men having
experiences higher.
With regard to the question of whether the occurrence of certain
exceptional experiences is dependent on religious variables, no factors
in regard to affiliation with a church, attachment to one’s church or de-
nomination can be found. It has already been mentioned that in ad-
dition these factors don’t seem very convincing when taking into con-
sideration the tendencies towards secularization in societies. The issue
changes however, if we take another look at the individual religios-
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Schmied-Knittel & Schetsche
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Everyday Miracles: Results of a Representative Survey in Germany
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10
We only can present excerpts from the complete results due to the limited space. For German
speaking readers we refer to the extensive publication “Alltägliche Wunder” (Bauer & Schetsche, 2003)
which contains the compete results of the research project.
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Everyday Miracles: Results of a Representative Survey in Germany
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Schmied-Knittel & Schetsche
Conclusions
Whatever the explanation turns out to be, the persons concerned
still feel that their experiences are rather unspectacular. Even though
they are seen as definitely remarkable and memorable, they seldom re-
quire special interpretations or even actions. In other words, most of
the experiences that are seen as “exceptional” by science appear to be
an integral part of the (familiar) everyday world, though perhaps more
accurately a ‘special world’. In this world, such experiences seem to
find their place without any problems, although narrative precautions
are employed when discussing them. The specific scientific preoccupa-
tion with the respective phenomena is in no small part responsible for
this. As is known, parapsychology constitutes an exception among re-
search disciplines, as it doesn’t per se deny exceptional phenomena an
objective reality as accepted disciplines do. This is positive if one takes
into consideration how many people report such experiences – in our
study alone this is between 50 and 70 percent of the population! Many
other studies come to similar results and even find an increase of excep-
tional experiences over the years (cf. Greeley, 1975, 1978, 1991; Newport
& Strausberg, 2001; McClenon, 1994a, 1994b; Yamane & Polzer, 1994).
Some authors such as Greeley (1975) think that the high occurrence of
such experiences is evidence of the fact that the so-called exceptional
is rather something common. This process of normalization is seen as
something that makes it increasingly easy for the people concerned to
talk about their experiences, including in interviews.
Of course, the question of whether it is the number of experiences
that is increasing or the willingness to talk about them cannot be re-
solved completely. However, if one takes a final look at our complete
research results, it becomes evident that the personal convictions about
the existence and effects of paranormal phenomena are still an integral
part of the belief systems of our modern societies, albeit not one that
guides actions. We were able to show that the population is not only
quite open-minded towards paranormal or anomalistic phenomena but
that personal experiences in this area are also common. The important
11
Remember this is only a short presentation of the results without references to other studies. There
are various authors who did work in this field, and most of their thesis fit with our results. For example
Wooffitt’s work (1992) applied discourse analysis to people’s narratives of paranormal experiences.
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Everyday Miracles: Results of a Representative Survey in Germany
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Kerstin Pannhorst and Stephany Kelly for their assis-
tance in the case of the translation.
References
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Übersinnlichen – wissenschaftliche Befunde. Würzburg: Ergon.
Clarke, D. (1995). Experience and other reasons given for belief and disbelief in para-
normal and religious phenomena. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 60,
371-384.
Gallup, G.H. & Newport, F. (1991). Belief in paranormal phenomena among adult
Americans. Skeptical Inquirer, 15, 137-146.
Gaynard, T.J. (1992). Young people and the paranormal. Journal of the Society for Psy-
chical Research, 58 165-180.
Glaser, B.G. & Strauss, A.L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for quali-
tative research. Chicago: Aldine de Gruyter.
Greeley, A.M. (1975). The sociology of the paranormal. A reconnaissance. Beverly
Hills/London: Sage.
Greeley, A.M. (1987). Mysticism goes mainstream. American Health, 6, 47-49.
Greeley, A.M. (1991). The paranormal is normal. A sociologist looks at parapsychol-
ogy. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 85, 367-374.
Haight, J. (1979). Spontaneous psi cases: a survey and preliminary study of ESP, atti-
tude, and personality relationships. Journal of Parapsychology, 43, 179-204.
Haraldsson, E. (1985). Representative national surveys of psychic phenomena: Ice-
land, Great Britain, Sweden, USA and Gallup’s multinational survey. Journal of the
Society for Psychical Research, 53, 145-158.
Haraldsson, E. & Houtkooper, J.M. (1991). Psychic experiences in the multinational
human values study. Who reports them? Journal of the American Society for Psychi-
cal Research, 85, 145-165.
Irwin, H.J. (1994). The phenomenology of parapsychological experiences. In S. Kripp-
ner (Ed.), Advances in parapsychological research volume 7 (pp. 10-77). Jefferson, NC:
McFarland
Knoblauch, H., Schmied, I. & Schnettler, B. (2001). Different Kinds of Near-Death
Experience: A Report on a survey of Near-Death Experiences in Germany. Journal
of Near-Death Studies, 20, 15-29.
McClenon, J. (1994a). Wondrous Events. Foundations of religious belief. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press.
McClenon, J. (1994b). Surveys of anomalous experience: a cross-cultural analysis.
Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 88, 117-135.
Newport, F. & Strausberg, M. (2001). Americans‘ belief in psychic and paranormal
phenomena is up over last decade. Gallup Poll News Service, June, 8, 2001.
Otis, L. & Alcock, J.E. (1982). Factors affecting extraordinary belief. The Journal of Social
Psychology, 118, 77-85.
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Ross, C.A. & Shaun, J. (1992). Paranormal experiences in the general population. Jour-
nal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 180, 357-361.
Schetsche, M. (1997) “Entführungen durch Außerirdische“ – ein ganz irdisches Deu-
tungsmuster. Soziale Wirklichkeit, 1, 259-277.
Thalbourne, M.A. (1995). Psychological characteristics of believers in the Paranormal:
a replicative study. The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 89,
153-164.
Tobacyk, J.J. & Wilkinson, L.V. (1990). Magical thinking and paranormal beliefs. Jour-
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Yamane, D. & Polzer, M. (1994). Ways of seeing ecstasy in modern society.
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European Journal of Parapsychology
c 2005 European Journal of Parapsychology
Volume 20.1, pages 22-49 ISSN: 0168-7263
Abstract
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Introduction
The pro attitude concept is a key element in Thalbourne’s theory
of psychopraxia (psyche = ‘soul’ or ‘mind’ or ‘self’ + praxia = ‘do’ or ‘ac-
complish’). The theory emphasises four fundamental aspects of action,
whether it occurs endosomatically (within the body) or exosomatically
(outside the body).
1. “The self, not defined further than that it is inclusive of the “I” –
the common denominator of all experience and the co-agent of all
action (this description allows for additional agency of the uncon-
scious component of the self).
2. “The ‘pro attitude’: A person may be said to have a pro attitude
towards state S when they would prefer S rather than –S [not S]
if those two alternatives were to be brought to their attention. Un-
der this heading fall goals, desires, wishes, intentions, needs, pref-
erences, and dispositions, be they conscious or unconscious. Psi-
missing is also postulated to be the result of a pro attitude, per-
haps unconscious, toward obtaining low scores. It is postulated
that there is a hierarchy of pro attitudes, and the most potent one
wins out. The self is said to “adopt” a pro attitude.
3. “The goal-state S that is to be brought about, whether in the so-
called “mental” sphere or in the “physical” sphere is irrelevant.
4. “The set of intervening necessary conditions mediating between
the self and its pro attitude and the goal-state S.” (Storm & Thal-
bourne, 2000, p. 280)
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Intuition
In Jung’s (1987) theory of Psychological Types it was proposed that
intuition (the dominant personality function in consciousness of the so-
called ‘intuitive type’) serves the purpose of determining the potential
(i.e., the efficacy, the possibility, or the future state) of the object under
observation, or the outcome of an event. Intuition is one of four func-
tions of Jung’s typology, along with Thinking, Feeling, and Sensation.
Jung (1971) defines Intuition as:
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4
For example: (1) Physics Intuition Applications, Inc., (online at: http://www.p-i-a.com/), (2)
Richard Broughton’s Intuition Laboratories, Inc., in Durham, NC, USA, and (3) the Perrott-Warrick
Research Unit, Psychology Department, University of Hertfordshire, England (intuition research).
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Effects on ESP Performance During a Gambling Task
Parapsychological Hypotheses
The following parapsychological hypotheses were proposed. (The
tests used are given in parentheses with each hypothesis.):
Psychological Hypotheses
As discussed above, gambling, intuition, and belief in good luck
may be interrelated. Therefore, the following specific hypotheses were
proposed (Pearson r tests are used to test all three hypotheses):
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Method
Participants
A total of 100 participants volunteered for the experiment. The ma-
jority of the sample was comprised of University of Adelaide students
at all levels, but mainly undergraduates, all of whom were invited to
participate by lodging tear-off acceptance slips in a ballot box located
in the Barr Smith Library on the University of Adelaide city campus.
There was a minority of non-students found by word of mouth, includ-
ing a subset of 12 members from the paranormal investigation group,
PRISM International.5 The total sample consisted of 45 males (45%) and
55 females (55%). The mean age was 26 years (SD = 10.75).
Measures
Three measures were used in the experiment:
Apparatus
Ten sets of material were used in the experiment: (1) four cork-
board panels with wooden frames measuring approximately 450 x 600
mm (18 x 24 inches; each panel consisting of a 5 x 5 array of clips suitable
for holding playing cards in place); (2) 20 packets of ‘Queen’s Slipper’
brand playing cards (52 cards/deck); (3) five cards/hand comprised of
5
PRISM International (Paranormal Research Investigation Services and Monitoring) is an amateur
group of individuals interested in claims of the paranormal, and it conducts investigations into such
claims. Members of PRISM International tend to believe in paranormal phenomena and to report para-
normal experiences. There is anecdotal evidence that some members have psychic ability. L.S. thanks
the president of PRISM International, Mr. Laurie Pearce, for his assistance in acquiring volunteers for
the gambling experiment.
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by showing that noncompliant pro attitudes can exist as well, and these
can lead to psi-missing.
Playing cards were covered entirely with Cling-Wrap, and card se-
lection was made by sticking an adhesive label onto the Cling-Wrap
over the card of choice. Thus, the possibility of cheating was eliminated
because the participant could not touch the cards, but could only indi-
cate his/her choices with adhesive labels. The 5 x 5 card arrays were
not prepared by the experimenter (L.S.), but by an assistant (either M.T.
or A.B.).6 The experimenter was not present during the randomised
card-positioning process, and the locations of the cards were not made
known to the experimenter prior to the trial. Positioning of the aces
(spades and clubs) was by a random process using Pagano’s (1986, pp.
479-480) random number tables. The cards were squared up in the 5 x 5
grid so that no single card stood out by way of a skew or tilt that might
be regarded as a cue for, or a clue to, the participant.
Feedback by e-mail was given to all participants at a later date after
questionnaires were scored.
Results
Preliminary Analyses
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Effects on ESP Performance During a Gambling Task
value of 9%, which is here deemed the minimum level of variance ex-
plained that would be functionally important (this convention has been
used elsewhere in the first author’s work—for examples, see Storm &
Ertel, 2001; Storm & Thalbourne, 2001). Therefore, the two groups were
treated as coming from the same population.
Parapsychological Hypotheses
Hypothesis 1: The number of correctly identified aces of spades
(spade-hitting) is above chance, and the number of correctly identified
aces of clubs (club-hitting) is below chance (PM CE = 1.00). The number
of aces of spades was above chance (Mspades = 1.02, SD = .82), but it was
not significant, t(99) = .245, p = .807. The hypothesis was not supported,
though the result was in the direction hypothesised. The number of aces
of clubs was not below chance (Mclubs = 1.06, SD = .93). The directional
hypothesis was not supported.
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Table 1: Pearson’s r Correlations between the Four GAS Subscales and BIGL Scores
Variable r pa
General Attitude .25 .006
Casino Gambling .21 .020
Horse Racing .17 .048
Lotteries .24 .008
a
df = 98; p values are one-tailed.
subscales) would carry with it a desire in the typical gambler to win, and
since chance plays such a big part in winning, a corollary of wishing to
win would be a concomitant belief in good luck.
Note that the four subscales correlate highly with each other, so it
is to be expected that the four significant correlations in Table 1 may be
artifacts due to the interrelatedness of the subscales (see Table 2). This
result is also a possible explanation for the general failures of the sub-
hypotheses in Hypothesis 3 to be confirmed.
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Effects on ESP Performance During a Gambling Task
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into three groups (‘low’ scorers: n = 34; ‘moderate’ scorers: n = 33; and
‘high’ scorers: n = 33) based on aggregated scores.
When Hypotheses 5 and 6 were retested for the three groups, only
the ‘moderate’ group produced significant correlations, of which there
were four: (i) spade-hitting with EN, r(31) = .31, p = .042, (ii) spade-
hitting with IN, r(31) = .32, p = .037, (iii) club-hitting with EN, r(31) =
−.28, p = .05, and (iv) club-hitting with IN, r(31) = −.34, p = .027 (all tests
were one-tailed).
Note that scores on the IN and EN sub-scales correlate significantly
so that there is some degree of nonindependence between these two
variables, r(31) = .65, p < .001, two-tailed. This fact may account for
these four significant correlations. When partial correlation analyses
were conducted controlling for and EN and IN, the aggregated score of
Intuiting (EN and IN combined) correlated positively and significantly
with spade-hitting, r(31) = .34, p = .025, and negatively and significantly
with club-hitting, r(31) = −.34, p = .025 (both tests were one-tailed).
These results suggest that Intuiting (provided that the measure is the
aggregated score on Intuiting) is a predictor of psi effects, but only when
the score on aggregated attitude towards gambling is a moderate one.
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Effects on ESP Performance During a Gambling Task
Table 3: Trials, Hit-Rates, Trial-Based Z Scores and ES Scores for Spade Hitting and Club Hit-
ting (N = 100)
Hitting Variable Total Trials Total Hits Proportion of Hits Z score ESa
Aces of Spades 500 102 .204 .170 .008
Aces of Clubs 500 106 .212 .615 .028
a 1
The estimate of effect size z/n /2 is used here, where z scores are ‘exact’
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Discussion
There were three aims in the present experiment:
1. To gain insight into the nature of compliant and noncompliant
pro attitudes.
2. To discover attitudes/dispositions conducive to a psychopractic
(i.e., psi) effect using scores on the GAS, the SL-TDI, and the BIGL scale.
3. To determine relationships between the three various scales and
subscales used (viz., the GAS, the SL-TDI, and the BIGL).
These are now discussed.
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Effects on ESP Performance During a Gambling Task
Jung’s (1977) claim that intuition was a function that assisted gamblers
in their decision-making is supported by our findings, but it is not clear
what factor determines hitting from missing since Intuiting scores pre-
dict both.
The Relationship between Gambling, Belief in Good Luck, and Intuition
Psychological relationships between seven scales (i.e., four GAS
subscales, IN and EN on the SL-TDI, and the BIGL scale) were hypoth-
esised (see Hypotheses 7, 8 and 9). There was no evidence that EN and
IN are related to the GAS (Hypothesis 7), but relationships were found
consistently between gambling and belief in good luck – all four GAS
subscales correlated significantly with the BIGL scale and in the direc-
tions hypothesised (Hypothesis 8). Therefore, gambling and belief in
good luck seem to be related in a way that common sense would dic-
tate. There was no evidence that EN and IN are related to the BIGL
scale. However, tentative support for all the hypothesised relationships
discussed in this subsection came in the form of a 100% success rate in
regard to directions hypothesised.
Conclusion
While the parapsychological results are mainly inconclusive, some
findings relating to intuition and attitude towards gambling warrant
further investigation. In regard to those findings, we inferred the re-
lationships between pro attitudes (compliant and noncompliant) and
psi. However, the natures of these two types of pro attitude need fur-
ther clarification through continued empirical research. This research
should necessarily include administering direct measures of pro atti-
tude, which should be both self-attributed and implicit in form. That is,
given the hypothesised nature of the pro attitude, it is important to con-
sider, and attempt to measure conscious and unconscious pro attitudes.
These possibly incompatible pro attitudes may give answers to the na-
ture and mechanism that underlies compliance and noncompliance in
psi testing.
The pro attitude may also prove to be an important concept for
parapsychology in another sense. In the present study, it was hypothe-
sised to be an initiating force that underlies psychopractic action, since
it would be integrated within the ego/Self structure. The pro attitude
(especially that of the skeptic), on the one hand, and the experimenter
effect, on the other, are often noted to be in an antagonistic relationship.
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Acknowledgements
This article was adapted from a chapter in the first author’s Ph.D.
thesis. Research reported in this article was made possible by a grant
from the Bial Foundation, Portugal. We would like to thank Bob Willson
for statistical advice.
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Effects on ESP Performance During a Gambling Task
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49
European Journal of Parapsychology c 2005 European Journal of Parapsychology
Volume 20.1, pages 50-64 ISSN: 0168-7263
Abstract
Correspondence details: Department of Psychology, Göteborg University, Box 500, 405 30, Göteborg,
Sweden. Email: Anneli.Goulding@psy.gu.se
50
Goulding
Introduction
51
Participant Variables Associated with Psi Ganzfeld Results
52
Goulding
53
Participant Variables Associated with Psi Ganzfeld Results
54
Goulding
Method
Design
This study used a recently developed digital Ganzfeld technique
(Goulding et al., 2004). In order to reduce the mean chance expectation
in a sub-group of hitters, every “receiver” participated in two succes-
sive Ganzfeld sessions; two targets were sent during the same sending
period. This meant that there were three possible outcome groups. One
group where an external judge failed to identify any of the two targets,
using direct hits as the outcome measure; one group where the judge
managed to identify one of the two targets; and a third group where the
judge managed to identify both targets. These three outcome groups
were compared regarding the participant variables described below.
Participants
An advertisement was placed in the main Göteborg morning paper
asking for people who wanted to take part in a research project about
paranormal phenomena. It asked specifically for people who had ex-
perienced paranormal phenomena. Interested people contacted the re-
searchers via telephone. Those who had had paranormal experiences,
did not show obvious signs of psychopathology, were Ganzfeld novices,
and were over the age of 18 were invited to participate.
The 64 participants were the same that took part in the Ganzfeld
study (Goulding et al, 2004). The mean age was 46.8 years (SD = 12.3,
range = 22 – 74 years). There were 54 women and 10 men. They were
all Ganzfeld novices and they all reported subjective paranormal ex-
periences. 11 of the participants brought friends with them to act as
“senders”. There were 37 participants in the no correctly identified tar-
gets group, 24 participants in the one correctly identified target group,
and 3 participants in the two correctly identified targets group.
Materials
The Australian Sheep-Goat Scale: The Australian Sheep-Goat Scale
(ASGS; Thalbourne & Delin, 1993) was used to measure paranormal be-
liefs and experiences. More specifically, it measures beliefs and experi-
ences of extrasensory perception (ESP), psychokinesis (PK), belief in life
after death, and belief in the possibility of communicating with spirits
of dead people. The ESP sub-scale consists of 11 items, for example: ‘I
believe I have had at least one experience of telepathy between myself
55
Participant Variables Associated with Psi Ganzfeld Results
56
Goulding
57
Participant Variables Associated with Psi Ganzfeld Results
58
Goulding
collected and kept until the Ganzfeld data collection had finished, first
then the questionnaire data were analysed.
The Ganzfeld experiment largely followed a standard procedure.
However, there were some differences. One difference was that every
“sender-receiver” pair participated in two successive trials. This meant
that while the “receiver” underwent the Ganzfeld relaxation procedure,
two targets (short film-clips) each with three decoys, were randomly
chosen and shown to the sender. The first target was shown during ap-
proximately fifteen minutes (a short film-clip was repeated seven times),
and then the second target was shown for fifteen minutes. An indepen-
dent judge rated the similarity between the mentation and the film clips,
and the Ganzfeld result was assessed using direct hits as the outcome
measure. For a more detailed description of the procedure, see Gould-
ing et al (2004).
Results
59
Participant Variables Associated with Psi Ganzfeld Results
Table 1: Means, standard deviations, and ANOVA results for the different Ganzfeld groups
with regard to the different scales used
Ganzfeld result group
Measure No hit One hit Two hits ANOVAa
(N = 37) (N = 24) (N = 3)
Mean Sd Mean Sd Mean Sd F p
Neuroticism 8.8 4.6 10.5 3.6 4.7 2.9 3.0 .06
Extraversion 13.0 4.0 10.8 3.6 13.0 3.6 2.3 .11
Cognitive
Disorganisation 6.6 5.5 7.6 4.8 4.0 3.0 .7 .48
Unusual
Experiences 14.5 5.6 14.8 6.8 11.7 8.6 .3 .71
Introvertive
Anhedonia 5.3 3.6 7.4 4.7 4.3 0.6 2.2 .12
Sense of
Coherence 145.7 22.8 143.5 17.3 163.7 11.0 1.3 .28
Australian
Sheep-Goat 28.3 4.8 27.9 5.0 30.3 5.0 .3 .72
Scale
a
df = 2, 61
Table 2: Frequencies of participants in different Ganzfeld outcome groups who answered yes
and no regarding current involvement in meditation and professional help seeking due to their
paranormal experiences, and exact Pearson chi-square results
Ganzfeld outcome group Meditation Help-Seeking
yes no yes no
No hits 15 22 0 37
One hit 15 9 2 22
Two hits 2 1 0 3
Test statistic a χ2 = 3.2 χ2 = 3.4
p = .33 p = .23
a
Exact Pearson chi-square result (df = 2)
60
Goulding
Discussion
To learn more about people who can obtain psi hits in the labora-
tory, it is important to reduce the mean chance expectation for hits for
every individual. This was done here but the Ganzfeld outcome group
that scored two hits only consisted of three individuals. Overall, none
of the Ganzfeld outcome groups in this study differed on any of the par-
ticipant variables. However, one problem with the interpretation of the
results was the different group sizes. Even though the two hits outcome
group was so small, the pattern of results regarding the questionnaires
is interesting, since in this group the probability for an individual to
have two correctly identified targets is 6.25%, instead of the usual 25%.
Thus, if there was psi in any of the participant sub-groups, this group is
the best candidate. I expected to find the largest differences between the
no hit and two hits groups since they are the two extremes. This was not
the case here. The largest (but non-significant) differences were instead
found between the one hit and the two hits groups, see Table 1. The two
hits group had a higher level of paranormal beliefs and experiences and
extraversion. On the health-related variables, the two hits group had a
lower level of all three factors of schizotypy and neuroticism together
with a higher level of sense of coherence.
Moreover, none of the individuals of the two hits group reported
seeking help because of their paranormal experiences whereas two indi-
viduals had done that in the one hit group. This pattern of results points
towards the possibility that earlier studies concerned with “receiver”
variables might have found significant differences between a hit group
and a miss group because the hit group was a mixture of chance hits and
psi hits. For example, the finding that positive symptoms of schizotypy
predict hits (Lawrence & Woodley, 1998; Parker, 2000) might instead be
interpreted as positive symptoms of schizotypy predict chance hits. The
small two hits outcome group here had a lower level of positive symp-
toms of schizotypy compared with the one hit outcome group but still
had a higher level of paranormal beliefs and experiences. Although pos-
itive symptoms of schizotypy and paranormal beliefs and experiences
show significant correlations, they are far from perfect. For example, a
previous study showed a moderate correlation between the O-LIFE Un-
usual Experiences factor and the Australian Sheep-Goat Scale (r = .45;
Goulding, 2004). In order to get a better understanding of what the over-
lap consists of, item analyses are needed. This information might also
61
Participant Variables Associated with Psi Ganzfeld Results
Acknowledgements
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62
Goulding
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European Journal of Parapsychology c 2005 European Journal of Parapsychology
Volume 20.1, pages 65-78 ISSN: 0168-7263
Research Note:
Sleeping With the Entity – A Quantitative
Magnetic Investigation of an English Castle’s
Reputedly ‘Haunted’ Bedroom.
Jason J. Braithwaite∗ and Maurice Townsend∗∗
∗
Behavioural Brain Sciences Centre, School of Psychology
University of Birmingham
∗∗
Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena
Abstract
Introduction
Recent research suggests that locations associated with repeated in-
stances of haunt-type experiences may contain magnetically remarkable
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Sleeping with the Entity
66
Braithwaite & Townsend
is the Tapestry room bed (see Table 1 for a summary of the most striking
reports). However, previous investigations were unable to assess how
the magnetic variability was being shared across complex time-varying
sources, localised static DC sources, or interactions between the two.
The purpose of this return visit was to initially assess in more detail (i)
the nature of the static distortions, (ii) the nature of the time-varying am-
plitude and frequency components, and (iii) basic interactions between
static and time-varying components.
Method
Design & procedure
The study was carried out at Muncaster Castle, Ravenglass in West-
Cumbria on the evening of Tuesday the 26th October, 2004, between
7:00pm and 11:30pm. We carried out a preliminary magnetic survey of
the Tapestry room (TR) bed using a Silva navigational compass, which
was repeatedly passed over and around the bed area. This was then
followed up by taking a series of precise measurements using the Mag-
netic Anomaly Detection System (MADS) which employs two separate
digital fluxgate magnetometers interfaced directly to laptop computers.
To do this we divided the bed up into 3 discrete reference points placed
along a central dividing line. These were (i) the pillow area, (ii) the
middle of the bed, (iii) the foot of the bed. One sensor (Sensor A) was
placed on the pillow and remained there for the whole experiment. The
67
Sleeping with the Entity
other sensor (Sensor B) was moved to the different bed reference points
and produced a series of time-linked synchronised magnetic measure-
ments from those locations. We also ran two separate baseline estimates
which included (i) a condition measuring the pillow with all the lights
turned off to assess how the nearby bedside lamps, and their demand
on the AC power supply were contributing to the overall AC magnetic
fields measured (no-lights), and (ii) a mid-room measurement which
represents an area localised to the bed, but existing outside of any static
anomaly (as determined by prior surveys and repeated here by the com-
pass survey). The approximate mid-room point was located 3 – 4 m
distance from the TR bed. Each location was measured for 10mins du-
ration. All frequency-based and FFT analyses were carried out using
Sigview signal analysis software (http://www.Sigview.com/).
Results
The compass test revealed a strong deflection in the magnetic field
around the bed. The compass needle was being considerably deflected
by the bed up to a distance of around 2 metres, this deflection being
more than 90 degrees close to the iron mesh bed support itself. This
indicates a strong localised static anomaly2.
Results from the MADS bed-survey were as follows: Firstly, there
were large differences between the overall static DC fields measured at
2
The beds in nearby rooms showed no magnetic reaction at all when tested.
68
Braithwaite & Townsend
the three bed reference points. Overall mean amplitude levels are given
in Table 2 along with their associated standard deviations (as an index
of variability). Turning the lights off had only a minimal impact on the
measured amplitudes indicating that they were not a crucial contributor
to the background ambient magnetic environment in the bed area.
Table 2: Mean field strength (static amp) and standard deviation for each measuring session
during the bed survey and baseline measurements. Note; low-load measurements were taken
in the pillow region with all the room and bedside lamps turned off.
Sensor Static Std- Sensor Static Std-
Location (A) amp (nT) dev Location (B) amp (nT) dev
Pillow area 23,144 24 Bed centre 93,013 61
Pillow area 23,145 24 Bed foot 57,202 109
Pillow area (no lights) 23,143 24 N/A - -
Mid-room 74,021 22 N/A - -
Standard FFT
A visual examination of the fields measured was carried out to re-
veal any peaks, transient AC events, DC shifts, or any time-based vari-
ability within the data series (see Figure 1). After inspection (which
did reveal some anomalies – reported below)√ 2 we 2applied a FFT to the
10min data series on the Total combined ( x + y + z 2 ) data for every
sensor location. The predominant AC component (Figure 1) across all
locations surveyed was found to be primarily a 50 Hz waveform (UK
mains-frequency), when confirmed using a FFT (Figure 2). Note, there
is a difference in amplitudes between the raw AC variability and that
shown in the FFT peak. This is because not all the energy is exactly 50
Hz, at all times. Due to an odd modulation effect (discussed below and
shown in Figure 4) this often caused instances of frequency spreading
around the base of the peak (e.g., estimates of 48 Hz – 52 Hz).
As the measurements were taken within a living environment that
had electrical wiring the presence of a 50 Hz peak is not surprising and
should be an expected contribution to some degree. The 50 Hz aver-
ages for the whole measuring session at each location, along with their
associated standard deviations are shown in Table 3.
Short-Term FT (STFT) analysis
We compared the variability at the various bed-reference locations
to the respective time-linked matched baseline measurements. Firstly,
69
Sleeping with the Entity
Figure 1. An example of the raw waveform magnetic time-series data measured at 250 samples
a second by Sensor A (bed centre session). This specific illustration shows an ‘inverted pulse’
instance. The clear difference between the pulse and the general background variability can be
easily seen (values given in nT).
Figure 2. An example of the time-series magnetic data converted into the frequency domain
via an FFT applied to the data series (from the first 8 seconds of the bed centre session). The
frequency spectrum between DC –125Hz is shown. Here a clear 50Hz peak of approximately
44nT can be seen. This represents the contribution from artificial man-made wiring to the back-
ground fields measured. This figure shows how much magnetic energy is contained within
what frequency components.
70
Braithwaite & Townsend
Table 3: Total average 50Hz frequency amplitudes measured via the FFT procedure for each
sensor location. All values are given in nT.
Sensor 50Hz Std- Sensor 50Hz Std-
Location (A) amp (nT) dev Location (B) amp (nT) dev
Pillow area 15.1 1.2 Bed centre 39.1 3.1
Pillow area 15.4 1.2 Bed foot 26.1 9.3
Pillow area (low-load) 15.9 0.7 N/A - -
Mid-room 9.9 1.4 N/A - -
3
Due to concerns from an 8 second modulation effect we repeated the above analysis with a moving
window restricted to 8 seconds bins that moved in phase with the effect. This meant that in most cases
each 8 second bin contained data that was, as much as possible, stationary within itself. Although the
size of the effects altered slightly, the relative difference between the results remained unaltered.
71
Sleeping with the Entity
Figure 3. A frequency-plot of each multiple of 8 secs gap. The leftmost column is the number
of 8 sec gaps between pulses (the most frequent), followed by 16 sec gaps, then 24 sec etc.
72
Braithwaite & Townsend
AC amplitude over the 500 ms preceding the pulse minus the average
amplitude during the pulse. The pulse depth is important because it
represents a sudden change in the energy contained within the overall
50 Hz field. Table 4 shows the average amplitudes before and during
the pulses, as well as the depth (i.e., difference), for each pulse.
Table 4: Amplitude inverted-pulse characteristics measured by both sensors at the same time.
These values (nT) represent average amplitudes collapsed across all pulse instances
Sensor Pre- During- Pulse Sensor Pre- During- Pulse
Location (A) pulse pulse ‘depth’ Location (B) pulse pulse ‘depth’
amp amp amp amp
Pillow area 20 7 13 Bed centre 76 45 31
Pillow area 30 15 15 Bed foot 71 49 22
Pillow area 30 14 16 Mid-room 25 14 11
Table 4 shows that the highest AC fields, occurred at the bed foot
and bed centre locations. These same areas also saw the largest pulse
‘depth’. On occasion pulses easily exceeded 40 nT. This suggests that
these areas may well be closer to the source of the pulse effect, since
the depth of the pulse should increase with increasing proximity to the
source. It is clear that apparent depth varies in proportion to overall AC
amplitude.
Time-based STFT:
73
Sleeping with the Entity
Figure 4. Data from an STFT showing a time-frequency representation of the magnetic fields
measured. Frequency is represented along the x-axis (1 – 70 Hz) and shows a clear large ridge
or peak at 50 Hz. Time is represented along the y-axis (0 – 36 sec) and amplitude is represented
along the z-axis (max 40 nT). As can be seen the 50 Hz field is present throughout the measur-
ing period. However, now plotted over time, a number of inverted pulses in the amplitude
can also be seen. This procedure reveals not only what frequencies are present, but also how
long they are present for (continuous or sporadic) and displays any temporal discontinuities
in the magnitudes of the fields present (as can be seen in the 50 Hz ridge over time).
Discussion
74
Braithwaite & Townsend
across the TR bed. If an occupant of the TR bed were to move their head
frequently in such a steep magnetic gradient it could potentially induce
highly variant magnetic distortions around their skulls. The distance
from the pillow and the centre of the bed is around 1 m. Based on es-
timations from the present data, there is an implied gradient of at least
70 nT/mm. Thus, relatively modest movements in either the head of
someone on the bed or of the metal mesh itself would easily expose the
head to changes well in excess of 100 nT.
Varying Magnetic Fields
The main contribution to the ambient AC field is overwhelmingly
coming from a 50 Hz power-frequency source. In contrast to the static
anomaly, the AC contributions to the general TR area are low – on av-
erage being less than, 30 nT. However, the level of this amplitude was
varying considerably over time. One possibility for the pulses in am-
plitude could be phase modulation. Interestingly, the castle employs a
3-phase power system in which the phases are separated by 120 degrees.
The presence of a 3-phase system certainly increases the likelihood that
the modulation effect could indeed be due to separate 50 Hz magnetic
contributions that are out of phase with each other. For phase modula-
tion to reduce an ambient field of the same frequency, it would need to
be out of phase by over 120 degrees. This possibility requires further
examination.
There are no discernable patterns to the gaps between pulses
though clearly the shortest intervals (8 seconds) are the most frequent
(Figure 3). The relationship between gap frequency and interval is strik-
ing. The largest pulse depths are around the foot and centre of the bed
(Table 4), implying that the source is physically nearer to those areas.
In terms of haunt-type experiences, the pulses are interesting be-
cause of their very low-frequency (up to 0.125 Hz) and amplitude (the
largest drop recorded was over 40 nT). For instance, other research has
suggested that low-frequency signatures (in the region of the brain ac-
tivity from 0.5 – 40 Hz) are particularly potent for encouraging neu-
rophysiological shifts and experiential changes in individuals (Bell,
Marino, & Chesson, 1992; 1994; Randall & Randall, 1991; see Persinger
& Koren, 2001). Such a low-frequency is also well within the same range
of natural geologically defined fields which have also been suspected in
some anomalous reports (Persinger, Ludwig & Ossenkopp, 1973; see
Persinger & Koren, 2001; Roll & Persinger, 2001). Furthermore, mag-
75
Sleeping with the Entity
76
Braithwaite & Townsend
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by a research grant from the Society of
Psychical Research awarded to the first author (JJB). We thank the SPR
for their support. We would also like to thank the Pennington family
for their continued support of our longitudinal research at this location.
The custom MADS configuration was developed by JJB with funds do-
nated by both private business and ASSAP (the Association for the Sci-
entific Study of Anomalous Phenomena: an educational charity). We
thank both parties for their continued financial and personal support.
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Wiseman, R., Watt, C., Greening, E., Stevens, P., & O’Keeffe, C. (2002). An investigation
into the alleged haunting of Hampton Court Palace. Psychological variables and
magnetic fields. Journal of Parapsychology, 66, 387-408.
Wiseman, R., Watt, C., Stevens, P., Greening, E., & O’Keeffe, C. (2003). An investigation
into alleged ’hauntings’. British Journal of Psychology, 94, 195-211.
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Volume 20.1, pages 79-84 ISSN: 0168-7263
Research Note:
Creative Personality and Belief in the Paranormal
Michael A. Thalbourne
Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit,
Department of Psychology, University of Adelaide
Abstract
Introduction
One of the many variables that might be supposed to be related to
paranormal belief is creative personality. Creative personality consists
of various personality characteristics which, to quote Davis, Peterson,
and Farley (1974, p. 33), “. . . regularly haunt the literature describing
the creative person”. In fact, a number of studies have examined the
relationship between paranormal belief and creative personality. It is
the purpose of this paper (1) to describe the earlier of these studies; (2)
describe in some detail the Creative Personality Scale, since it was much
used in later studies; (3) describe the measure of belief in the paranormal
used in all these studies but one; (4) list in a table all available studies of
paranormal belief and creative personality, and tabulate the correlation
published (or calculated through re-analysis); (5) work out the overall
median correlation as the best estimate of the correlation in the popula-
tion; and (6) discuss the results.
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Creative Personality and Belief in the Paranormal
80
Thalbourne
drama (τ = .36, p = .007), with drawing (τ = .34, p = .01) and with poetry
(τ = .27, p = .04). The creative personality scale can thus be said to have
received at least partial validation (Thalbourne, 1998, p. 405).
A similar procedure was followed using 50 participants in a later
study (Thalbourne, 2000). The writing of poetry showed a significant
positive correlation with the Creative Personality Scale (Kendall’s τ =
.25, corrected for ties, p = .01). The writing of other literature, such as
novels and short-story writing, showed a marginally significant correla-
tion: τ = .19, p = .07. Thus the conclusion from both studies is that there
is some evidence of construct validity.
Note that in the studies using the Creative Personality Scale, the
measure of the paranormal belief variable was originally the 18-item vi-
sual analogue Australian Sheep-Goat Scale (Thalbourne & Delin, 1993).
However, Lange and Thalbourne (2002) derived a 16-item Rasch Aus-
tralian Sheep-Goat Scale, which was here used in all cases except for
Thalbourne, Bartemucci, Delin, Fox and Nofi (1997). Rasch scaling in-
volves the process of “top-down purification” in which items biased for
gender and/or age are eliminated, the scale is checked for unidimen-
sionality, and the result is a scale with good reliability and an interval-
level measure. The two items that were rejected were the ones on after-
life issues.
Results
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Creative Personality and Belief in the Paranormal
Table 1: Pearson correlations between creative personality and various measures of belief in
the paranormal.
Creative Personality
Scale
Study Sample N r p
Joesting & Joesting (1969) Students 53 .45 .01
Davis, Peterson & Farley (1974)
WKPAY? Male students 36 .25 n.s.
PSMI .34 < .05
Creativity ratings .47 < .01
WKPAY? Female students 101 .27 < .01
PSMI .26 < .01
Creativity ratings .03 n.s.
Moon (1975) Students 458 a < .001
Thalbourne & Delin (1994) Students 241 .38 < .001
Thalbourne & Delin (1994) Manic-depressives 86 .35 < .001
Thalbourne & Delin (1994) Schizophrenics 38 .43 .010
Thalbourne & Delin (1995) Students 123 .42 .001
Thalbourne, Bartemucci, Students/
Delin, Fox & Nofi (1997) General public 370 .37 < .001
Thalbourne (1998) Students 242 .30 < .001
Thalbourne, Keogh & Crawley (1999) Students 248 .32 < .001
a
Chi-square (df = 2) = 22.13.
Discussion
Two issues arise for discussion. The first is that, like the sheep-goat
variable itself, creative personality and creativity may each be predic-
tive of psi scoring. There are a number of statements which assert this
relationship (e.g., Angoff & Shapin, 1970; Murphy, 1963), and some ex-
perimental evidence bears this out (e.g., Schlitz & Honorton, 1992).
The second issue is more sobering, and that is that creative person-
ality is correlated not only with the sheep-goat variable but also with
indices of ostensible psychopathology. In most of the Thalbourne stud-
ies creative personality is moderately to highly correlated with magi-
cal ideation (Eckblad & Chapman, 1983: an index of schizotypy) and
also significantly correlated with the Rasch Manic-Depressiveness Scale
(Lange, Thalbourne, Houran & Lester, 2002), both of which prima facie
suggest that persons higher in creativity may be more prone to psy-
chosis. One way of testing this possibility is to correlate the Creative
Personality Scale with the variable Neuroticism (Eysenck & Eysenck,
1991), which is a measure of proneness to psychiatric symptoms, located
82
Thalbourne
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European Journal of Parapsychology
c 2005 European Journal of Parapsychology
Volume 20.1, pages 85-86 ISSN: 0168-7263
Book Review
Gordon Claridge
Department of Experimental Psychology,
University of Oxford
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Book Review
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European Journal of Parapsychology © 2005 European Journal of Parapsychology
Volume 20.1, page 87 ISSN: 0168-7263
ERRATUM
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